The Importance of Choosing the Right Wisconsin Personal Injury Attorney

Wisconsin is different than most other states in that it
may be very difficult to fire your personal injury lawyer
and find a new lawyer that will take your case. A client
does have a right to fire their attorney at any time for
any reason. However, as a practical matter, in a personal
injury case, it may be more difficult than the client
originally expected to fire their attorney and find a
second attorney to take the case.

In most states, if a client hires Lawyer A but later fires
Lawyer A and hires Lawyer B, then Lawyer A gets an hourly
rate for the time they spent on the case prior to their
firing. Lawyer B is entitled to the amount of the
contingent fee minus the amount paid to Lawyer A. IN
WISCONSIN, THE OPPOSITE IS TRUE. Lawyer A gets the
contingent fee, minus the hourly rate times the amount of
time that it would have taken for Lawyer A to bring the
case to conclusion. That amount is taken out of the
contingent fee and goes to Lawyer B.

Wisconsin law considers Contingent Fee Retainer Agreements
to be contracts. Therefore, the principles of contract law
apply to such agreements. A preliminary step is analyzing
the contract to determine whether it is valid and not
unreasonable. A 25%-40% contingent fee amount would likely
be held valid; however, a 50% contingent fee could be ruled
excessive. If the contract is determined to be valid, then
in order to dissolve a valid contract, one of the parties
to the contract must show that the other party "breached"
the contract. In the context of a Wisconsin personal injury
contingent fee retainer agreement, this means that a client
must show that the lawyer is being discharged for "fault"
or "cause" or the lawyer will be paid the full contingency
fee minus an hourly rate paid to the second lawyer to
conclude the case, even if that second lawyer had a
Contingent Fee Retainer Agreement with the client.

"Cause" for firing an attorney is a high standard. "Cause"
has been defined as a "standard of conduct that is below
that required of attorneys as a matter of law."

The Wisconsin rule for dealing with situations, where the
first lawyer is fired was established in the 1950's in the
case of Tonn v. Reuter. Then, in 1999, in the case of
Action Law, S.C. v. Habush, Habush, Davis, & Rottier, S.C.,
the Court of Appeals decided a case where the original law
firm, Habush, sued to collect their contingent fee on a
case where the client had fired Habush and hired a
subsequent law firm, Action Law, S.C., out of Madison, to
conclude the case. Action Law claimed that the Habush firm
did very little work on the file and should not be entitled
to their full contingent fee, less Action Law's hourly rate
for actual work on the file. Habush's position was that it
made no difference how much time they spent on the client's
case, they were the first attorney on the file, and
therefore, they were entitled to the full contingent fee
minus the reasonable value of services provided by the
second lawyer, Action Law. The Court of Appeals, in two
unpublished decisions agreed with Habush. Action Law was
entitled to an hourly fee for the amount of time spent
resolving the claim once Habush was fired and Action Law
was hired. Action Law also argued that because Habush had
only valued the case at $100,000, and Action Law obtained a
final settlement of $240,000, that Habush should not
benefit from the work of Action Law in increasing the cases
value. The Court of Appeals also rejected this argument
ruling in favor of Habush.

What does all of this mean to personal injury victims in
Wisconsin? It means they will have a very difficult time
finding a second lawyer to take over their case if they
have already hired and fired an initial lawyer. Therefore,
it is essential that Wisconsin personal injury victims hire
the right lawyer from the beginning of their case.

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Wisconsin Personal Injury Attorney Randall Rozek provides
legal services to injury victims throughout the state. His
firm, Rozek Law Offices, provides free books to Wisconsin
Injury Victims in order to educate them on Wisconsin
Personal Injury Law, as well as the process of hiring a
Wisconsin Personal Injury Lawyer. For more information vist
them on the web at: http://www.rozeklaw.com .